Artist’s impression of the Geophysical Monitoring Station (GEMS)

The ‘mole’ experiment ‘HP3’ (Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package) is intended to determine the heat flow in the Martian interior and to determine the planet’s physical composition. For this purpose, a special electromechanical impact mechanism drives an instrument container down to a depth of up to five metres below the surface of Mars (left). In these first five metres below the surface, the geoelectrical properties of the ground are to be measured as part of the search for subsurface ice deposits.